It is a common experience to use, e.g., a wireline telephone, a wireless telephone or other mobile device, to call an operator for information assistance. In a typical information assistance call, a caller identifies to the operator the name and address (sometimes city or area code) of a party whose telephone number is desired. In response, the operator locates the desired destination number using, e.g., a computer database. The caller may then be afforded an option to be connected to the destination number without the need of first terminating the information assistance call.
After exercising such an option, the user may be provided with enhanced information assistance services where the connection to the destination number may be monitored. Examples of such enhanced services are described, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,032 issued Feb. 16, 1999 to Cox et al. In accordance with one such enhanced service, when a busy or ring-no-answer condition is encountered in the connection to the destination number, a voice server intervenes, informs the user of the unsuccessful connection, and provides the user with a menu of options. A first option may be to receive the destination number in an automated voice by pressing a “2” key; a second option may be to return to an operator for further assistance by pressing a “*” key; etc.